Dr. Monke's first career as a teacher of technology to public high school students raised profound questions for him about just how effective technology was at creating real learning experiences. During the course of the evening, we will discuss a variety of themes ranging from parenting children to becoming aware of how companies market to our kids and challenge our cultural assumptions about media.

Learning happens when we confront a new experience and are changed by it. For children, that kind of transformation can only happen with a primary experience, when they are surrounded and engaged with real things. Almost without our knowing it, that kind of experience has been replaced by symbolic experience through technology. For example, many children experience exotic animals on television, but don't know the birds in their own back yard. As a result, they have no way to connect their experiences to their own bodies and lives. The Waldorf School of Atlanta is excited to explore how we, as adults, can support children’s healthy relationship to technology.

About the Presenter:
Dr. Lowell Monke is professor of Education at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. He currently teaches Philosophical Perspectives in Education and courses on the impact of media on young people. His research and writing interests revolve around alternative education, diversity and the social and psychological impact of technology on children's development. Lowell's essays have appeared in numerous publications, including Orion, Teacher Magazine and Netfuture. He is coauthor of the book, Breaking Down the Digital Walls: Learning to Teach in a Post-Modem World (SUNY Press), which critically examines his experiences working with high school students on telecollaborative projects. Lowell taught for twenty years in K-12 schools, not just in the U. S. but also in South America and Europe. He received his Ph.D. from Iowa State in 1999 and taught one year at Grinnell College before moving to Wittenberg in the fall of 2000.

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